Brazilian Network on Global Climate Change Research (Rede CLIMA):: structure, scientific advances and future prospects

In order to create the necessary scientific knowledge for Brazil to understand and deal with thecauses and consequences of climate change, the federal government created, in 2007, the BrazilianNetwork on Global Climate Change Research (Rede CLIMA). Rede CLIMA needs to discuss issues,pose questions, develop methodologies and technological products, find answers, and suggestsolutions that are relevant to society. In its first phase, it focused mainly on providing infrastructureand consolidating the sub-networks. Several scientific advances were also achieved, a selectionof which are presented in sections focusing on climate modelling, agriculture, energy and water,human development and mobility, biodiversity and ecosystem services, and human health. Now,in its second phase, the objective is to straighten collaboration between sub-networks by meansof interdisciplinary projects. It is argued that in order to succeed the Network needs to fosterresearch whose merit is measured not exclusively by academic production.A fim de criar o conhecimento científico necessário para o Brasil entender e lidar com as causas e consequências das mudanças climáticas, o governo federal criou, em 2007, a Rede Brasileira de Pesquisa em Mudanças Climáticas Globais (Rede CLIMA). A Rede CLIMA precisa discutir questões, fazer perguntas, desenvolver metodologias e produtos tecnológicos, encontrar respostas e sugerir soluções que sejam relevantes para a sociedade. Em sua primeira fase, a Rede concentrou-se em fornecer infraestrutura e consolidar suas sub-redes. Houve também vários avanços científicos, alguns dos quais são apresentados em seções focadas em modelagem climática, agricultura, energia e água, desenvolvimento e mobilidade humana, biodiversidade e serviços dos ecossistemas, e saúde humana. Agora, em sua segunda fase, o objetivo é estabelecer colaborações entre sub-redes por meio de projetos interdisciplinares. Argumenta-se que, para que tenha sucesso, a Rede precisa fomentar pesquisas de longo-prazo cujo mérito não seja medido apenas pela produção acadêmica

Estrutura e contexto eto-ecologico do canto da população de Baleia-jubarte Megaptera novaeangliae, no ano 2000

Orientador: Jacques VielliardDissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de BiologiaResumo: Pelo que sabemos, este é o primeiro estudo do canto da população brasileira de Baleia-jubarte Megaptera novaeangliae em sua área de reprodução. Realizamos gravações em equipamento digital (DAT) na região do banco dos Abrolhos, Bahia, de julho a novembro de 2000. Analisamos auditivamente e espectralmente 20 ciclos de canto, perfazendo um total de 5 horas de canto gravado em 10 ocasiões diferentes. O fim de uma seção de canto foi gravado em uma ocasião. Os tipos de notas foram classificados com base em seus parâmetros acústicos: duração, duração do intervalo entre cada nota, freqüências mínimas e máximas. Medimos também o ritmo (número de notas por segundo) de emissão das notas do canto. Identificamos 24 tipos de notas organizadas em 5 temas (cada tema contém um ou mais tipos de frases). Todos os temas são compartilhados por todos os indivíduos da nossa amostra. Diferentemente de todos os outros estudos que conhecemos, em nenhuma ocasião os cantores da nossa amostra omitiram algum tema ou reverteram a ordem de emissão dos temas no canto. Em um dos temas encontramos tipos diferentes de frases cujas terminações são iguais, estando a diferença, portanto, na parte inicial da frase. Estudos anteriores sugeriram que se trata de um fenômeno mnemônico, análogo às rimas que usamos em nossa linguagem, cujo principal propósito seria facilitar o aprendizado da alteração do canto ao longo do tempo. Às vezes a passagem de um tema para o seguinte ocorre de forma gradual. Isto se dá devido à ocorrência de frases de transição; frases formadas por notas de dois temas adjacentes que são emitidas logo antes da passagem de um tema para o outro. Estas ocorrem na passagem entre dois temas dos cantos da nossa amostra. Uma característica marcante do canto da Baleia-jubarte é sua alteração irregular ao longo do tempo, alteração esta que sempre ocorre durante a temporada reprodutiva. Em nosso estudo, observamos o aparecimento de um tipo de nota e o desaparecimento de um tipo de 'terminação de frase', estando ambos aparentemente relacionados ao progresso da temporada. Uma outra característica conhecida é que todos os indivíduos de uma mesma população cantam igual. Em contraste, observamos uma variação individual na emissão de determinadas notas, todas concentradas em um mesmo tema. Acreditamos que esta variação esteja relacionada à capacidade que cada cantor tem de compor e/ou de aprender as modificações no canto ao longo do tempo. A partir da observação de que existe uma variação individual no canto desta espécie, fenômeno este até o presente momento não relatado em nenhum outro estudo sobre o qual temos conhecimento, apresentamos a idéia de que a capacidade de um cantor compor e/ou aprender as alterações do canto ao longo do tempo influencie, em última instância, sua aptidãoAbstract: To our knowledge, this is the first study of the song of the Brazilian population of Humpback Whale Megaptera novaeangliae in its breeding and calving ground. Digital recordings (DAT) were made at the Abrolhos Bank, Bahia, from July to November 2000. Aural and spectral analyses were carried out for approximately 20 song cycles, in a total of 5 hours of songs from 10 different recording events. The end of a song session was recorded once. Note types were classified using acoustical parameters, namely: duration, length of the intervals between them, minimum and maximum frequencies. The rhythm of note utterance was also measured. We identified twenty-four note types, organized in 5 themes (each theme has one or more types of phrases). All themes are shared by all singers. In contrast to all other studies that we are aware of, in no occasion the singers in our sample omitted a particular theme or reversed the order in which they were sung. In one of the themes we found different types of phrases that contain the same kind of ending. Previous studies have suggested that this is a mnemonic device, analogous to the rhymes we use in our language, being its main purpose to facilitate the learning of the song alteration through time. Sometimes the passage from one theme to another occurs gradually. This is due to the occurrence of transitional phrases, in which notes of the two adjacent themes are emitted in the same phrases prior to the change of theme. These transitional phrases occur in the passage between two themes. One of the well established characteristics of the song is its irregular alteration through time, which seems always to occur during the breeding season. In the songs we have analyzed, we observed the appearance of a particular note type and the dissapearance of a particular phrase ending, and both seem to be related to the progression of the breeding season. Another characteristic is the fact that all individuals in a population tend to sing the same current version of the song. In contrast, we observed an individual variation in the performance of certain note types, which are all concentrated in the same theme. We believe that this variation is related to each singer's ability to compose and/or to learn the song alterations through time. From the observation that an individual variation in the song of the species exists, something to our knowledge not reported in any other study so far, we present the idea that a singer' s ability to compose and/ or learn the song alterations through time influences his fitnessMestradoMestre em Ecologi

Estudo da dinâmica de inundação na várzea Amazônica através de termo-sensores de campo

The Amazon floodplain is a complex mosaic of forests, lakes and channels, seasonally inundated by Amazonian rivers. The flood pulse is a key factor in the ecological processes of the várzea, which transforms periodically terrestrial environments into aquatic environments. This dynamics provides habitats for many fauna and flora species and provides a suitable spawning environment and abundant food and habitat for fish larvae protection. JERS-1 radar based mapping estimates that 17% of the Amazon basin is covered by wetlands. However this estimate is based in just one high water in the1996 hydrological year. The launch of ALOS radar based satellite in 2006 with a temporal resolution of 40 days offer a new possibility to better understand the water level annual variation in different habitats. However, these inundation maps derived from satellite images need to be validated with field information. For this it was conducted a field experiment to identify the flooding dates, from 2008 to 2009, in different regions of the floodplain, through the use of temperature sensors (thermosensors or iButtons). Therefore, this paper presents a methodology to detect the flooding period through the use of temperature sensors in the floodplain located in the Mamiraua Sustainable Development Reserve, and also describes the first results of the flooding dynamics of this ecosystem.Pages: 5092-509

Predicting suitable nesting sites for the black caiman (melanosuchus niger Spix 1825) in the central Amazon basin

After many years of illegal hunting and commercialization, the populations of the Black caiman (Melanosuchus niger) have been recovering during the last four decades due to the enforcement of a legislation that inhibits their international commercialization. Protecting nesting sites, in which vulnerable life forms (as reproductive females, eggs, and neonates) spend considerable time, is one of the most appropriate conservation actions aimed at preserving caiman populations. Thus, identifying priority areas for this activity should be the primary concern of conservationists. As caiman nesting sites are often found across the areas with difficult access, collecting nest information requires extensive and costly fieldwork efforts. In this context, species distribution modeling can be a valuable tool for predicting the locations of caiman nests in the Amazon basin. In this work, the maximum entropy method (MaxEnt) was applied to model the M. niger nest occurrence in the Mamirauá Sustainable Development Reserve (MSDR) using remotely sensed data. By taking into account the M. niger nesting habitat, the following predictor variables were considered: conditional distance to open water, distance to bare soil, expanded contributing area from drainage, flood duration, and vegetation type. The threshold-independent prediction performance and binary prediction based on the threshold value of 0.9 were evaluated by the area under the curve (AUC) and performing a binomial test, respectively. The obtained results (AUC = 0.967 ± 0.006 and a highly significant binomial test P<0.01) indicated excellent performance of the proposed model in predicting the M. niger nesting occurrence in the MSDR. The variables related to hydrological regimes (conditional distance to open water, expanded contributing area from drainage, and flood duration) most strongly affected the model performance. MaxEnt can be used for developing community-based sustainable management programs to provide socio-economic benefits to local communities and promote species conservation in a much larger area within the Amazon basin514759CONSELHO NACIONAL DE DESENVOLVIMENTO CIENTÍFICO E TECNOLÓGICO - CNPQCOORDENAÇÃO DE APERFEIÇOAMENTO DE PESSOAL DE NÍVEL SUPERIOR - CAPESFUNDAÇÃO DE AMPARO À PESQUISA DO ESTADO DE SÃO PAULO - FAPESPNão tem299340198–092016/13462–0G.P.R. Banon received a scholarship from the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES) through the “Programa Nacional de Pós-Doutorado” (PNPD) (grant 299340198–09). L.C. Banon received a scholarship from the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) through the “Pesquisa Regular” (grant 2016/13462–0). G.M. Moulatlet was funded by the University of Turku Graduate School. F. Villamarín received a scholarship from the Brazilian Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) through the “Programa Estudantes Convênio de Pós-Graduação” (PECPG). Field data were obtained with the financial support from the St. Augustine Alligator Farm & Zoological Park provided by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and John Thorbjarnarso